


A Blink of an Eye

by Nova16



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Big Brother Warriors, Bonding, Hurt/Comfort, I needed to occupy my mind on something that wasn't their melody, Light Angst, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Wide eyed pre koholint Legend for a bit, and yes i do know that I always say that and the opposite happens, anywho, but I am maybe certain this one will be short, but this one is going to be short, hopefully, so I'm working on like five other fics at once, this is the last of my ideas that I'm allowing my self to start until i finish something, this turned out to be a Legend and Warriors fic, this was fun, yes I know I'm starting yet another multichaptered fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29421774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nova16/pseuds/Nova16
Summary: Link had been running from a couple of knights when he fell through a portal through time only to come face to face with another one on the other side. He really wanted to believe the knight that he and his companions weren't going to hurt him but he was a knight, how could he trust anything he said?The gang meets a younger Legend not long after the events of A Link to the Past.
Relationships: Legend & Warriors (Linked Universe)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 139





	A Blink of an Eye

Just a little bit further. He had to keep running just a little more until he reached the Lost Woods. Once he was there, he could disappear so easily and the knights would never be able to find him. That was one of the rare times he was _actually_ thankful for being so small.

Link tripped over a tree root and fell. He threw his hands out at the last second to save himself from landing on his face. The impact sent a jolt of pain up his arms starting from his wrists.

“ _Gah_!” He couldn’t help but let out a cry of pain. Tears started to well up in his eyes but he blinked them away. It wasn’t the time to cry. He needed to get out of there.

“There he is!”

“Ah!” His heart pounded in his chest loudly. The knights found him again.

He got to his feet and started sprinting again. Something warm and wet covered the palm of his right hand. A quick glance down told him he was bleeding.

They shouted at him. Called him names using words that his uncle would never have wanted him to repeat.

He just needed to keep running. The Lost Woods wasn’t too far away—he could see it off in the distance. A few more feet and he could finally hide.

He was grateful that neither knight seemed to carry a bow on them. It was difficult fixing an arrow wound on his back—especially when he really didn’t have many people he could go to for help.

There it was. The opening to the Lost Woods was just a few feet away. But just as he let himself feel relieved at that, he tripped over a rock and fell to the ground again. The screeching of swords being drawn behind him made him freeze. He sat up and started to scoot backwards—anything to keep distance between him and them.

The two knights sneered, but as soon as they reached for him, the ground beneath Link disappeared and he fell.

He wasn’t sure how far he fell or for how long, but once he could see the ground again, it came all too fast. He hadn’t even been given the time to scream.

Link rubbed the spot on his hip where he landed as he looked around confused. He fell into the ground so how come there was a sky above him?

Trees towered over him but they were different from the ones in the Lost Woods. He got to his feet and kept his hand on the hilt of his sword. All he’d wanted to do was return the Master Sword now that Zelda was safe. That’s all.

The rest of Hyrule must not have been informed of the fact that they’d been lied to and he wasn’t actually a criminal because, as soon as he traveled a few miles west of the castle, someone spotted him and immediately called for the soldiers.

There didn’t appear to be any knights around at the time, but he’d been hiding and running from them for so long that a part of him couldn’t allow himself to relax. He walked down the unfamiliar path on light feet in case there were any stray knights hiding in the trees.

The longer he walked, the more fear taunted him in the back of his mind—wrapping its cold fingers around his throat. Nothing around him was recognizable—he knew it wasn’t any forest he’d ever visited before. He was well acquainted with the woods in Hyrule from the number of times he’d needed to hide from monsters or soldiers or just people in general.

Something rustled in the bushes to his left, and his sword was in his hand faster than he could process what the noise had been. His heart pounded in his chest as he waited for whatever horrible monster to jump out and attack. The leaves rustled again and out came a young deer. Link blinked twice before letting out a long sigh of relief and lowering his sword.

 _When did I get so paranoid?_ He let out another tired sigh and sheathed his sword. He was only eleven, but he could already feel stress weigh him down to the point where it was getting hard to keep his head up. Was it always going to be like this? Was he going to spend the rest of his life afraid of his own shadow?

Link turned to continue on down the path when he ran into something solid. Or _someone_ solid. He took a step back—rubbing his now sore nose—and was about to apologize to whoever it was he’d run into and froze. The green tunic had thrown him off for a moment, but he’d definitely run into someone wearing a suit of armor. A flash of blue fabric and he saw the crest of Hyrule and his mind went on full alert.

He jumped back several paces in preparation to start running again—however, the knight made no move to grab him yet. It was odd, normally they didn’t hesitate before going after him.

“You know that’s not a toy, right?” The knight nodded his head to the sword Link had subconsciously drawn.

Why was he just standing there? Why wasn’t he attacking him? What was he waiting for? Link cast his eyes around the surrounding forest now worried there were other soldiers lying in wait.

The knight took a step towards him so Link took two steps back. He held his sword out in front of him steady even if his voice wasn’t.

“Stay back!” His eyes searched and searched for an escape route—preferably one that the knight would have had a hard time following him down.

“That’s enough, now.” The knight raised an eyebrow at him. His tone of voice was sharp and commanding. “Put the sword down, kid.”

Where could he run to? Where could he go? The path ahead of him was blocked by the knight and he had no idea what dangers awaited him in the woods on either side of him.

“I mean it!” Link held his sword higher. “The princess is safe now! She’s in the castle and she’ll tell you! She’ll tell all of you the truth! _I never kidnapped her_!”

His only option was to backtrack from where he came from. Hopefully, it would lead him someplace he could hide and not more knights.

“Princess?” The knight’s forehead creased as he looked him up and down. “What’s your name and…how old are you?”

_What?_

Link let his sword drop slightly as he looked up at the knight. His eyes were scary and full of anger. He had wanted nothing more than to run but, for some reason, he couldn’t move.

He swallowed hard but it was difficult with how dry his mouth had gotten. Had the knight _actually_ not known who he was? Had he just given himself away? If he wasn’t currently paralyzed by fear, he would have hit himself in the head. Of all the _stupid_ things he could have done.

Any second now the knight was going to draw his own blade and was going to attack him. Just like all the others. He needed to start running. He _really_ needed to start running.

“You’re name’s Link, isn’t it?” The knight said it more like a statement than a question and again that scary look was back in his eyes.

He finally remembered how his legs worked, so instead of answering, he turned and started sprinting back the way he came—hoping he was fast enough to outrun the knight. He didn’t like the look of the sword strapped to his back. The knight looked like he was a whole lot more competent with a blade than all the others he’d run into until then.

“Hey! Wait! Come back here!” The knight chased after him and he was kicking himself for being grateful about his lack of height earlier because he would have given _anything_ for longer legs—anything at all to help him run faster.

Faster.

Wait.

_I’m an idiot!_

He wanted to hit himself again. He was still wearing his Pegasus boots. Throwing one last glance over his shoulder—the knight was gaining on him—he activated his magic boots.

Why hadn’t he thought of this earlier when he was trying to reach the Lost Woods? He felt himself smile for the first time in a while. This time, he was going to get away without getting anymore hurt than he already was. He was _going to get away_.

That is if he’d actually paid attention to where he’d been running. Link turned his head in time to see another boy right in his path with his back turned to him. Pegasus boots were good for running in straight lines, turning or changing directions weren’t really options unless he came to a stop first.

He cut off the magic powering his boots a second too late and went barreling into the other boy. The two of them crashed to the ground in a heap. Link had hit his head on something but he wasn’t sure what, but it had hit hard.

The knight shouted a number but Link didn’t have the time to consider what he meant, he just needed to get out of there. Although, when he went to stand, something tugged at his sword strap and he couldn’t move. His heart raced as he tried to untangle himself from the other boy who looked way too grumpy for his age.

“Just hold still,” the boy snapped. He started to undo the buckle on his own sword strap. “You’re acting like you’re being chased down by a pack of angry Moblins.” No, but close enough.

“ _Hurry, please_!” The knight was even closer now.

“Wait, Four! Don’t let him go yet. I need to talk to him.” Link tried to shrink down into the ground, hoping another hole would open up and save him from this knight as well, but none appeared.

The kid stopped trying to untangle them and looked down at Link in confusion.

When the knight finally caught up to him, he put his hand on his hip and stared down at him nastily. Link saw his sword lying a few feet away but there would be no way for him to reach it all tangled up like this.

“I didn’t do it! You don’t have to kill me, just take me back to the castle,” he begged. He hated begging but he also hated the idea of dying so begging it was. “The princess will tell you. I _never_ _kidnapped_ her!”

The knight crouched down with his hands out and nowhere near his sword. “No one’s killing anyone here.” Link stopped struggling. Was the knight _actually_ not going to kill him or was he just saying that to get Link to lower his guard?

But then again, he’d never made a move to threaten Link at all. Had this knight already been to the castle? Did Zelda tell him the truth? His heart rate started to slow back down at the thought.

“Captain?” The kid in the weirdly colored tunic asked the knight. “What’s going on?”

When the knight looked at Link again, his eyes were more sad than angry. “I think we found another hero.”

Both the knight and the other boy—whose name was Four, as it turned out—had to reassure Link many more times that no one was going to hurt him before he agreed to go with them. Link was still a bit skeptical but followed them anyway, his hands gripping his sword strap until his knuckles turned white. They took him back to their camp in the middle of the woods where six others were just as heavily armed as the knight himself.

Someone was standing over a fire stirring something in a pot that smelled heavenly to Link and his stomach growled embarrassingly. When was the last time he had a decent, hot meal? The one cooking looked up at Link and chuckled. Link felt his face burn and he turned and hurried to catch up to the knight.

There were scars all over one side of the one cooking’s face. Burn scars, it looked like. He had one on his thigh where he’d been too slow to dodge a Beamos.

The knight led him over to the two oldest of them. If Link had wanted to run and hide from the knight, he especially wanted to run from those two. He still wasn’t a hundred percent sure about the knight, but he found himself stepping behind him like a child would hide behind their mother’s leg.

The knight looked down at him confused but didn’t question why he was trying to make himself disappear. He told the two of them the same thing he told Four back on the trail. Link watch the other two’s faces carefully to see their reactions.

The man with the one eye made him feel uneasy. There was something… _off_ about him that Link couldn’t quite identify. But his one good eye was hard, he had the look of someone who’d seen too much, as his uncle would say. Link never understood what that meant until a few months ago when he first set out to find the medallions.

Next to him stood an equally stern-looking man wearing a wolf pelt around his shoulders even though it was so hot out. He had black markings all over his face. Link could feel dark energy coming from him that reminded him of the Dark World. He took a small step back subconsciously—remembering the way that place changed his form—his Moon Pearl was stowed away safely in his bag, so he didn’t have anything to worry about. But, even so, the thought did nothing to ease his mind.

“There’s no way he’s a hero. Not that young.” The one wearing the wolf skin looked at the knight incredulously and Link wanted to agree with him. He wasn’t a hero—at least not in the people of Hyrule’s eyes.

The other older man closed his one good eye. His forehead creased, but he didn’t comment.

By that point, all of the others had come crowding around them.

“I was about his age when I started out.” The one with brown hair shrugged.

It must have been news to the others because they all looked over at him in shock. He ignored them and instead knelt down to Link’s level and offered him his hand. “Hi, there. This must be a bit overwhelming to you. My name—well, it’s probably easier if you call me Hyrule.”

Link looked at his outstretched hand for a moment before he realized he was supposed to shake it.

He hesitated for a very long time, but when he finally did take his hand his heart was pounding. He was waiting for the moment where everything would go sideways—waiting for the knife to be thrust in his back—and he would regret trusting the knight. The guy who had the same name as the kingdom smiled warmly at him and Link ripped his hand free, taking a huge step back.

That one smile sent his whole body on high alert. Smiles like that couldn’t be trusted. Smiles like that ended up with knights chasing him and new scars the next morning.

He was an idiot for following the knight back to his camp where all of his heavily armed friends were. His heart raced. This was a trap. He _knew_ it was going to be a trap _he just knew it_!

Link backed up even more and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. Hyrule’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t expected Link to see through his plans so quickly.

“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.” The knight put his hands out in front of him in what was supposed to be a non-threatening gesture—but it was _a lie_. _Everything was a lie._

“Nine years old and he’s already got PTSD?” The one with the wolf pelt sighed heavily and gave the knight a tired look.

Granted in this situation he should not have fixated on that but hearing those words caused his cheeks to burn. “I’m _eleven_!” He yelled while definitely _not_ stomping his foot like a little kid.

The one-eyed man ran a hand down his face. “Still. A child nonetheless.”

None of them made any immediate moves to attack him or restrain him but he couldn’t afford to relax his guard. The knight’s hands reached for his own sword strap. The action had Link drawing his blade and getting into a fighting stance. However, he straightened slightly when the knight undid the buckle—allowing his sword to fall to the ground behind him before showing Link his hands again.

“Listen, Link, we’re not going to hurt you.” As much as he wanted to believe him he _just_ _couldn’t_. Those words…he’d heard them before. The long scar along the inside of his right forearm was what he had received in return for those words.

Link cast his eyes around him. There was no one behind him. If he took off, there was a slight chance he could lose them in the woods, but there was also the chance that they knew these woods well enough that they would find him easily.

He really wanted to start crying, then. He was tired of being chased and hunted down like he was some kind of monster. It wasn’t fair. All of the bad things that have happened to him in the past few months, _none of it was_ _fair_.

“I didn’t kidnap her,” he pleaded as his sword hand shook. “ _Why_ can’t any of you see, _you were being_ _lied_ _to_?”

“We believe you, Link,” the knight said.

He shook his head. It was getting harder to keep his tears at bay. The knight sighed softly before kneeling down so they were at eye level. There was sadness in his eyes again and it threw Link off even more.

The knight took a deep breath. “I can’t even begin to imagine the things you’ve had to go through at your age. For you to react this way…” his laugh was bitter. The look in the knight’s eye was one he hadn’t seen in a knight in a very long time. “I know there’s not much I can say that will make you trust us, but you _are_ safe here. I swear on my life that these men and boys will never turn their blades against you.”

Link was slow to lower his sword. He wanted to believe him. He really, _really_ did. “You’re a knight of Hyrule,” he tried not to wince at how pitiful his voice was making him sound. “How can you make a promise like that knowing what you and all the others have done?”

The answer the knight gave him was the very last thing he ever expected to hear. “I _am_ a knight of Hyrule, yes. But not the Hyrule you’re from.”

They told him this crazy story of a shadow they were chasing, about these portals connecting different eras of time. They said they were heroes chosen by the goddesses like him. Except…he _wasn’t_ a hero like them, not really. He was just a boy who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

When Link asked them to give him proof they were telling the truth they got all quiet and looked at each other like the thought never occurred to them.

“I mean…” the one who didn’t look much older than him—his name, and everyone else’s, was Link but they called him Wind to avoid confusion—screwed up his face like he was thinking real hard about something. “Couldn’t you show him the Master Sword, Sky?”

Link looked down at the Master Sword in his hands.

“If Sky pulls out his sword the kid’s going to go on attack mode again.” The knight, or Warriors, shook his head and rubbed his chin in thought.

“Actually, I do have an idea.” The one called Wild pulled a strange-looking device from a holster on his hip and started tapping on it. Link didn’t understand why, until Wild knelt down in front of him. “This is called a Sheikah Slate. It does a whole lot of cool things, but the one I want to show you is this.”

He turned the slate around so Link could see it. Link tilted his head to the side in confusion. There was a weird-looking painting of a blonde girl with her nose buried in a notebook—scribbling furiously. But, that’s not what Link focused on.

Behind the girl stood Hyrule castle.

What was _left_ of Hyrule castle.

Link took the slate from Wild’s hands so he could look at it closer. How was that even possible? He was _just_ there a few hours ago!

“That’s Princess Zelda,” Wild said to clarify as if _that_ was what Link was concerned about.

Link’s head felt like it was spinning. “But…but she’s _not_ Zelda. And…and the castle—!” The rest of his words died in his throat. There was no way any of this should be possible!

But then again, thinking back to everything he’d been through in the past few months. Was it _really_ _that_ improbable? Even so, he felt himself shake his head as he handed the slate back to Wild.

“A painting. A realistic-looking one, but a painting nonetheless. Anyone could paint a scene of fantasy.”

Wild opened his mouth slightly before looking over at the others. “I guess it would be a bit much to explain what a camera is to you right now.”

Before anyone else could suggest a new idea, Warriors came over and knelt in front of him again. He hesitated before holding his hand out to Link.

“Link? Could I see your hand?” Even though the knight had discarded his weapons and spoke softly, Link’s grip on his sword tightened and he shook his head. Warriors gave him a look that said he had expected as much. He instead started to remove the glove on his left hand.

“I know this isn’t a constant in all of our adventures,” as soon as Warriors slipped his glove off Link’s sword slipped from his fingers and clattered against the ground. Link held his left hand close to his chest. There on the back of the knight’s left hand was a scar very similar to the one etched out on Link’s. A triangular scar where the Triforce of Courage once was held.

The look Warriors gave him was almost apologetic. “But, judging by your reaction, you understand what this is.”

It was a while before Link found his voice again. “The Triforce was sealed away after I defeated Ganon. How…how did you come by that?”

Warriors gave him a small smile and shrugged as he fit his glove back on his hand. “It’s different for all of us. Some find it. Some are born with it. Sometimes it just…appears.”

Link took a step back, shaking his head. He looked—really looked—at each of the other heroes. Tall and short. Blond or brunet. Soldier. Warrior. Traveler. Commoner. Eyes of blue, brown, and green. Eyes that have seen far too much. Eyes of honesty.

Eyes full of courage.

“So,” his voice was as small as he felt at that moment, “everything you’ve told me…about the shadow and time travel.” He looked over at Wild and the slate in his hand with the picture of the wrong Zelda and ruined castle. And then to the oldest of them all—the one-eyed man. The armor he wore was outdated and old, from centuries and centuries ago.

He met the knight’s eye again. Kind eyes he’d hadn’t seen in a knight since his uncle’s death.

“It’s all true?”

Warriors gave him another smile and nodded.

Link had the same feeling as he did before he came to this place: like the ground below him had disappeared and he was falling once again. But this time, he didn’t have that far to fall.

He sat on the grass with his head in his hands. There was still a huge chance they were lying to him. But, at the same time, he didn’t recognize the area, meaning he was nowhere near the castle—if they were even still in Hyrule. Typically, if he was this far away from the castle, the knights wouldn’t even bother wasting the resources to try and take him back to the castle.

Why didn’t they try to kill him outright? Why come up with this convoluted backstory that really didn’t make much sense in the first place?

When he looked up again, he was met with smiles. Genuine smiles, with no ulterior motives behind them. Was it wrong of him to want to believe them? After running for so long?

He told them he believed them, even if he didn’t fully mean that. He would keep an eye on them, watch his own back until he knew for sure they could be trusted. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to go without sleep for a few days.

Still, they looked relieved and he felt a little guilty for lying to them.

“So, kid,” Warriors offered him a hand up. Link was hesitant to take it but accepted it anyway, “what should we call you?”

He frowned at the knight. “My name is Link. And _I’m not a kid_.”

Four snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we’re all Link here. It’d be a bit confusing to the rest of us if we called you that.”

“When you saved your princess,” Time said, there was an odd cadence to his voice like he was mildly bitter about something. “The people must have showered titles on you. Called you a hero.”

Link froze and looked down at the golden blade of the Master Sword. The Triforce symbol glared up at him mockingly. They showered titles on him alright. Criminal was among their favorites.

“I’m not a hero,” he kicked at the dirt, “and you won’t catch anyone in Hyrule who would disagree with that.”

And uncomfortable silence fell on the group of heroes until Warriors cleared his throat.

“Well, I think we can stand to have one Link among us.” He clapped Link on the shoulder and, for some odd reason, Link didn’t immediately flinch away from him.

Over the next few weeks, Link journeyed with the other heroes across time. It took a while for him to feel comfortable enough where he didn’t sleep with his hand on his sword. And eventually, he was able to relax completely around them.

The first time he’d laughed, everyone sort of stopped what they were doing to look at him funny. When he had asked what was wrong, Warriors smiled at him brightly before ruffling his hair—causing his hat to fall off. Link never would have admitted it out loud—especially not to Warriors—but he was starting to become very fond of the Captain. It was like he’d gained an older brother he’d never known he had wanted.

After one of the first battles he’d helped in, both Warriors and Sky pulled him aside afterwards to ask if he’d had any training at all.

“Kid, your footwork makes me want to cry,” Warriors said in a light tone so Link knew he wasn’t being critical just to be mean.

Still, Link grumbled insults under his breath when the Captain went off in search of a few sticks for them to practice with. Sky bit his lip and turned his head so Link wasn’t able to see his expression, but he could tell he was laughing silently by the shaking in his shoulders.

They would spend hours during their breaks, teaching him the basics. The two of them were really the only ones who had _had_ any sort of formal training—well, there was Wild, too, but they all told him he’d lost his memory during his adventure. Link had to wonder if it was related at all to the scars on his face.

He liked Wild. He taught him so many things about surviving in the outdoors that he’d wished he’d known _months_ ago.

And it turned out that Time and Twilight weren’t as scary as they first appeared to be. Time was a huge softy who told lame jokes all the time that were so bad you couldn’t help _but_ to laugh. And Twilight would let him ride on his shoulders from time to time.

The others were good people too, as he found out. Wind was loud and loved to exaggerate stories. Four was quiet most of the time but probably had the best sense of humor out of all of them.

There would be days where Sky would go on and on about his Zelda. The others would tease him about it but it did nothing to wipe the dopey smile off the guy’s face. Link didn’t understand. Warriors told him he was just lovesick but Link really didn’t know what that meant and frowned at the Captain when he ruffled his hair again, saying he’d explain it to him when he was older.

And then there was Hyrule. There was something different about the Traveler that Link couldn’t quite tell. But he was a lot of fun to be around. He knew games and stories that were at least somewhat familiar to Link.

They traveled together for a long time. They fought monsters Link had never seen before. Hiked over snowy mountains. They even went sailing on an _actual_ pirate ship over a never-ending sea.

It was an adventure. A real one where he didn’t have to run from guards or hide in caves and sewers. He no longer had to run through the mud in fear and with no clear direction in mind. When it rained, Warriors would throw his scarf over Link’s head until they could find shelter. The first time he did that, Link had hidden his face so the Captain wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes. He wasn’t used to being cared for, not since the night he lost his uncle.

Eventually, he stopped flinching when it stormed. Eventually, the holes that had formed in his heart were patched up in eight different places.

A part of Link never wanted this adventure to end. At night, he would wish that he could continue to travel across time with this odd group of heroes forever.

The latest portal that had appeared left them in Time’s Hyrule towards the end of the year. The leaves had all turned different colors and the air had taken on a chill.

Link sat close to the fire, trying to warm up his cold fingers. Things were settling down for the night as Wild finished putting away the last of his cooking equipment. Wind was in the middle of telling a story about the time he single-handedly took down an Octorok the size of an island. Link had never seen an island before so he didn’t understand the comparison, but judging from Wind’s enthusiastic retelling of the struggle, Link assumed it was pretty big.

Time was the one who had cut Wind’s story short—reminding them all of how late it was getting. Beside him, Four made a comment under his breath that made Link giggle out loud. Which he promptly covered up with a cough as Time turned his attention on him.

He pulled his bedroll a bit closer to Warriors’ before crawling under his blanket. It was cold, alright? Besides, the Captain never complained about it, even when he would accidentally cling to him in the middle of the night.

Everything was fine when he laid his head down to go to sleep. He was surrounded by people who understood him, who cared for him. As the fire slowly died, Link drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

In his dream, he was running.

Running through a familiar woods, tripping over roots and rocks along the way. Every now and again, he would look over his shoulder to see if they were still following him. They were. And they were getting closer.

He ran and ran until the ground beneath his feet disappeared and he started to fall. But no matter how much he tried to scream no sound would come out. As he fell, the world around him turned a sinister shade of purple and his whole body began to feel weird—like he was jolted awake or something. But he was still dreaming so that couldn’t have been it.

The ground reappeared under his feet all too soon and he landed hard on his hands and knees. It had hurt…a _whole lot more than a dream should_.

“There he is!” A gruff voice shouted behind him and Link froze. He knew exactly who had yelled without having to look back but he did so anyway. His heart pounded in his chest as he hurriedly got to his feet to start running away from the two knights once more.

His head ached so badly that he could barely see the path in front of him. Had he hit his head? This was bad. He wanted to wake up already. If he would just wake up he could curl up against Warriors’ side. That usually worked to get his nightmares to go away.

He blinked real hard and pinched his arm a half dozen times but he didn’t wake up from his dream. There was something warm and wet on his hand and when he turned it over to see what it was, he panicked. A horrible feeling erupted inside him. His hand was still covered in blood from when he had tripped on his way to the Lost Woods.

The two knights behind him yelled and called him names so he tried his hardest to run from them faster. Once he made it to the Lost Woods, he was able to slip away to a place they would never find him.

Link looked at his blood-covered hand again and nearly started crying right there.

He wasn’t dreaming.

He was very much awake.

Days and then weeks passed and Link was now fully convinced it had all been a dream. The other heroes weren’t real and neither was the shadow they were chasing. His heart ached when he had to finally admit it to himself, but he needed to accept reality.

It was months before Zelda had finally managed to convince the people of Hyrule that he wasn’t actually the criminal they all thought he was. He’d been forced to stay in the castle that whole time after the incident near the Lost Woods. And it may have only been a few months, but to him, it felt like _ages_.

He tried to live life normally after that but his uncle’s house felt too big and was way too quiet. Besides, what was normal anymore? The town’s school teacher refused to accept him back because her husband was a knight and he’d convinced her that Link was basically a demon child. When he made the mistake of telling Zelda about that, she had all of her old tutors take over his lessons which was way worse.

He managed to tolerate it all until shortly after his twelfth birthday. It was a spur of the moment decision that had him throwing all of his belongings in a bag with the intent to leave Hyrule. There was so much more out there than inside the palace walls—honestly, he couldn’t sit through another lecture on table manners, but that was beside the point.

“What are you going to do now?” Zelda was still against him leaving but she didn’t understand. She couldn’t possibly understand what he went through just walking down the street. The people may call him a hero on the outside but he heard their whispers. The way they spat and cursed his name. They would tell their children to avoid him, to never believe a word he said.

Zelda’s name was spoken with praise and awe. The people of Hyrule loved and adored her.

They only tolerated him at best.

Link tied the strings on his pack and threw it onto his back. He turned and gave her a hopeful smile. “It’s a big world out there, Zelda.” There was someplace out there where he wouldn’t be an outcast, he could feel it. Besides, how could he say no to another possible adventure, like the dream he had had so long ago? “You think I could see it all before I die?”

She followed him out of the room he’d been forced to stay in. “What’s this talk of dying?” Her words made him pause for a moment. There were many times where he really thought he was going to die during his adventure to save both Zelda and the kingdom of Hyrule. Either from dehydration out in the desert, drowning in lake Hylia when a Zora tried to drag him down to the bottom, seemingly endless streams of monsters roaming the land, or at the hand of a knight who was brainwashed into thinking he needed to be killed for a crime he never committed.

Of course, he didn’t tell her that. Besides, he was much more confident with a blade and other items than he had been at the start of his journey. Out there he would be able to put his skills to good use and maybe even get better. His past may have been dark and scary but there was sunlight in his future, he could just see it.

Link turned and gave her a big smile—one he felt with all his heart. “Of old age, I’m sure. Haven’t you heard? I’m a _hero_. Heroes always get the happy ending don’t they?”

The smile she gave him was smaller and had a hint of sadness in it. It never did reach her eyes. “Yes, they do. You deserve a happy ending, Link.”

He was twelve years old when he set out on his mission to explore the whole world. He ended up seeing quite a bit of it, actually. People who spoke strange languages. Monsters that were similar to the ones in Hyrule ran amuck along with ones he had no names for.

When he finally returned to Hyrule he was nearly seventeen and restless and itching to go out and find more adventures because there had to be _something_ out there for him to find.

At seventeen years old, Link set sail, wide-eyed and excited in search of new adventures.

He was seventeen when he returned to Hyrule, his excitement for adventures completely snuffed out and his once wide eyes were now haunted and narrow. When people asked him about his time at sea he would grow quiet and would do anything to change the subject.

Because at age seventeen, something good in him had perished out at sea and he wished he’d perished with it.

Eventually, people stopped asking why he put his sword away and sought out an apprenticeship with the blacksmith as opposed to becoming a knight. As a blacksmith, Link could still help people by making horseshoes or other metal necessities. There was no need for him to raise his sword against another monster. Besides, he shouldn’t have fought so hard to get the townspeople to see him as a hero because it turned out they had been right all along. He wasn’t much of a hero after all.

He was eighteen when Hyrule was once again put in danger and, as much as it pained him to do so, he took out his sword and played the part of a hero again.

That part of him that he’d lost out at sea, he could feel a fraction of it returning to him as he unwillingly opened his heart to let a new friend into his life.

Another decision he would come to regret as a shattered bracelet cut him off from that friend forever. He wanted to be done after that but a few months later his sword was needed in another far-off country.

He was tired. Tired and worn like a rusted, chipped sword.

In what was left of his now iron-coated heart, he knew what he was doing was right. It was for the best. Saving lives and being a hero…it was a life he once dreamed for but he’s since come to realize that dreams only leave behind a bitter taste.

At age nineteen something spectacular happened. He’d been on his way home from his journey in Hytopia when the ground shook slightly and a large purple portal appeared before him. Memories of another bittersweet dream from his childhood came rushing back to him all at once.

When he was younger, he had hoped and prayed that he hadn’t been dreaming—that it hadn’t been his mind playing tricks on him again.

Standing there before him was the very same portal they had used to journey through time all those years ago. His heartbeat quickened. If this portal was real then none of it had been a dream after all.

The hours Warriors and Sky spent fixing his footwork and teaching him the proper way to fight. Pulling pranks on the others with Wind and then getting scolded by Time. Wild showing him how to cook, what plants and animals were safe to eat, and how to prepare them on the road.

It had been real. _They_ had all been real. The sweet-tasting feeling of relief brought a smile to his face for the first time in a _very_ long time.

But before he ran straight into the portal reality came crashing down on him and he stopped. Images of an island flashed through his mind, of a girl with stars in her eyes and a hibiscus blossom in her hair. Memories he tried so hard to shove down.

Marin hadn’t been real. She was only a dream. If he got his hopes up again he would only get hurt in the end.

But the portal _was right there_. He could reach out his hand and touch it. It was real. _This_ _wasn’t a dream_.

His emotions warred inside him. There was a large scar on his heart that still ached as he remembered how he woke up alone out at sea two years back. And he reminded himself that he had woken up from a similar dream when he was a child running from knights in the Lost Woods.

There was also something else in his heart—a feeling he had almost forgotten what it had felt like— _hope._ For the first time since he returned to Hyrule from Koholint, he had hoped that portal was like the ones he remembered. He hoped that on the other side he would once again find the only people who could ever understand the hardships he’d gone through over the year.

Link made up his mind and didn’t hesitate to enter the portal.

He stepped through wondering how much time had passed for them all. Did Wild recover more of his memory? Surely by now, Sky would have married his Zelda. And Wind, what was he going to do if Wind ended up being taller than him?

It was dark on the other side of the portal, chilly too. It must have been late fall in whoever’s time this was. There was shouting coming from the woods and he was running before his eyes even fully adjusted to the darkness.

A part of him felt this forest was familiar but it’s been eight years, it could have been any of the times he’d been to. He tripped over roots and rocks until he came upon a clearing with a dying fire.

His heart nearly stopped in his chest. There were eight figures shouting and frantically looking for something…for _someone._

_That’s not possible._

The Captain was arguing very loudly with Twilight who had been the one on watch duty that night he had returned to his Hyrule. Both of their faces were full of panic.

The others yelled his name over and over again as they tore through the camp and ventured out into the dark woods with torches.

Link inhaled sharply. He’d known time travel was a fickle thing but it was like his brain couldn’t accept what he was seeing.

He had lived eight years of his life. But for them, it was like no time had passed at all.

Wind was the first one to notice him. Link had expected to see relief in the young sailor’s eyes but he took a step back at the fury that had been etched on his face. The kid—it was so strange to think he was now older than him—called out to the others, making his presence known.

They all surrounded him in seconds.

Warriors held a sword to his throat. Something that he’d feared would happen when he was a scared little kid eight years ago. The blade of his old friend’s sword was cold as it lifted his chin up—forcing him to see the anger in his eyes. Eyes that no longer recognized him.

“Who the hell are you, _and what have you done with our kid_?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Hi! I needed a brain break from Their Melody for a bit. Chapter 12 took a whole lot out of me. So for the next little while, I'll be working on some of my other fics. I just had the urge to write this one this week. This one is going to be short. Only a few chapters. It's going to be short. It's going to be short. It's going to be short. Maybe if I say it enough times it'll come true. But I hope you guys have enjoyed it so far. This probably isn't my best work, so I apologize if it isn't the greatest or if the pacing feels weird.
> 
> As always thank you all so much for the support! Love you lots! <3 <3 <3!!  
> Nova


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